Chapter Summaries

Nuno Bellardo’s fleet fought the Aeldari pirates on Alicia, then the newly arrived Shadow of Order fleet destroyed the remaining enemy ships with Aether Cannons that pierced their holofields. Alicia’s Merchant Alliance accepted the Shadow of Order’s protection, hoping to end the pirate attacks and increase trade.

• Nuno Bellardo’s fleet used torpedo saturation against the Aeldari, destroying five warships but suffering heavy losses of its own.
• The Vox Master reported that a growing fleet had appeared in the system, including a 25.81-kilometer megaship identified as part of the Shadow of Order.
• The Shadow of Order asked Alicia’s marked warships to withdraw, then its cannons pierced the Aeldari holofields and destroyed the remaining pirate ships.
• Alicia’s ruling class learned that the Shadow of Order’s weapon was called an Aether Cannon after questioning Howard Fender.
• Howard Fender’s Stormbird landed amid cheers, and the Merchant Alliance council accepted the Shadow of Order’s protection.

Fulgrim visited Alicia and admired its beauty, while Nimrod organized the Shadows of Order’s response to the Imperium’s campaign against the Squats. The Second and Third Legions rendezvoused at Agaros as Nimrod’s forces prepared to deploy to the galactic core.

• Fulgrim arrived at Alicia, praised its clean air and beautiful architecture, and asked Howard Fender to protect the world’s environment as it developed.
• Nimrod ordered the Honor Guard and 5th Legion to explore the Void Whale and turn its body into supplies and a training base.
• Arsena Dunn told Nimrod that the Squats had rejected the Imperium’s demands and that the Emperor had ordered the Fourth, Eleventh, and Fifteenth Legions to attack the galactic core.
• Nimrod requested Cataphractii Terminator armor and its manufacturing technology from Mars, and ordered the First, Second, and 5th Legions to deploy through the Carium Gate with the Third, Fourth, and 11th Chapters.
• The Second Legion from Cypra Mundi rendezvoused at Agaros with the Third Legion from Mordian.

Nimrod’s Legions used the Carium Gate to reach the galactic core far faster than expected, and he planned to seize Squat with the support of a Ramillies-class Star Fortress. The four Legions began attacking the Squats’ voidships as they sought a foothold in the Rosario System.

• Bukayo Arshavin and Wilshire met Nimrod in the Carium System and reported the Third and Second Legions’ conquests between Mordian and Cypra Mundi.
• Four Legions traveled through the Carium Gate from the Carium System to the Rosario System in four weeks instead of the expected twenty-three.
• Nimrod ordered the first batch of Cataphractii Terminator Armour assigned to the Second Legion and directed Tech Sergeants to learn how to manufacture it.
• Arsena Dunn reported that the third Ramillies-class Star Fortress from Cypra Mundi would be completed in one month, and Nimrod ordered it to be deployed to Squat.
• Nimrod ordered the Legions to capture the Rosario System and open a route to Squat, and 750 warships from the four chapters of the Shadow of Order attacked the Squats’ voidships.

Nimrod led an assault on Rosario’s Longbeard-class Squat super-heavy cruiser to capture its Ancestor Shrine and learn its secrets. After boarding, he found no Ancestor Core aboard and encountered Ironkin and Hearthkyn defenders.

• Nimrod identified the Longbeard-class cruiser as a likely flagship and ordered his Honor Guard to board it.
• Nimrod and seven Honor Guard members flew toward the cruiser in a Gauntlet Assault Boat, dodging its fire and destroying intercepting gunboats.
• The assault boat breached the cruiser’s armor, and Nimrod and the Honor Guard fought through the Squat defenders.
• Nimrod learned that the other Squat ships would not come to the cruiser’s aid and concluded that no Ancestor Core was aboard.
• Nimrod led the team onto the deck, where Ironkin and Hearthkyn armed with Warhammers, Bolters, and plasma battle-axes confronted them.

Nimrod and the Honor Guard fought the Hearthkyn and Ironkin, using personal energy shields and overwhelming force to push through the Squat defenses. Nimrod toyed with the High Overlord’s heavy armor before turning the Overlord’s thrown axe back on him, splitting his armor and chest.

• Nimrod ordered the Honor Guard to activate their personal energy shields, and they exchanged fire with the Hearthkyn warriors.
• The Honor Guard’s bolter rounds broke through the Hearthkyn’s heavy armor, while the Warrior and Hunter killed attacking Ironkin and Hearthkyn fighters.
• Nimrod charged through four deck levels, cutting down Hearthkyn and Ironkin with the Sword of Vaul.
• The High Overlord charged Nimrod in his top-grade Leijin Alloy armor, but Nimrod used gravity and force to hurl him around and keep him at a distance.
• The High Overlord threw his battle axe at Nimrod, who redirected it back into the Overlord, shattering his armor and splitting open his chest.

Nimrod examined the High Overlord’s exceptionally durable armor and invited Malevolus to study it with him, hoping to win the Tech-Priest’s loyalty and obtain his Cataphractii Terminator expertise. As the Second Legion deployed in their new armor beneath Rosario, Wilshire led a teleport assault that broke through the Squat defenders.

• Nimrod learned that Malevolus had arrived and welcomed him aboard to study the captured Squat warship’s technology.
• Nimrod tested the High Overlord’s armor, recognized it as top-grade Leijin Alloy, and carried the corpse to the bridge as an inducement for Malevolus.
• Malevolus admired the armor and agreed to study it with Nimrod while the Second Legion changed into Cataphractii Terminator equipment and the Radiance received teleport platforms.
• Wilshire teleported his Cataphractii Terminator squad beneath Rosario’s Hearth-Fortress and advanced under fire from the Hearthkyn.
• Wilshire and his squad fired missiles, autocannons, and bolt rounds, then used a Thunder Hammer to smash an Ironkin and break the Squat line.

Nimrod and Malevolus studied Leijin Alloy and used material recovered from captured Squat ships to develop improved armor, while Nimrod prepared a Knowledge Keeper potion for Arsena. Magnus and Perturabo arrived at Nimrod’s palace, where Perturabo was so disturbed by its asymmetrical design that he offered to tear it down and rebuild it.

• Nimrod and Malevolus analyzed Leijin Alloy and identified 514 metals, including 238 unknown metals, but the captured cruiser had no Ancestor Shrine.
• Malevolus reported that their research could improve armor, though 159 alloy metals still had no substitutes, and Nimrod learned Data Guardian Plates were used in the Knowledge Keeper potion.
• Nimrod gave Arsena the potion, and Arsena reported that Magnus would arrive in two days and Perturabo in five.
• Magnus and Perturabo arrived at the Shadow of the Throne, and Perturabo heard that Nimrod had been entrusted with command of the operation.
• Perturabo inspected Nimrod’s asymmetrical palace and offered to design a replacement for the Iron Warriors to build.

Perturabo confronted the palace’s disorderly design and remembered losing a sculpture contest to Andos, while Nimrod and Magnus argued that art was not bound by rules. The Primarchs turned to the coming war with the Squats, and Nimrod noted that Apophis had met resistance from an unknown presence in the mind realm.

• Nimrod told Perturabo that the palace’s architectural style was a form of art, prompting Perturabo to inspect its irregular details.
• Perturabo remembered that he had destroyed his own statue and Andos’s after losing their adoptive father Damekos’s sculpture contest.
• Magnus described a fallen bird statue that had revealed truths behind the Five Cults, and Nimrod said art was not defined by order or calculation.
• Perturabo set aside the discussion of art, and Nimrod began the War Council by turning the conversation to the Imperium’s mission to subdue the Squats.
• Nimrod reviewed envoy Apophis’s report and explained that the Squats’ strong wills and an unknown presence had resisted Apophis in the mind realm.

Nimrod, Magnus, and Perturabo finalized a campaign against the Squats, assigning the Thousand Sons and Iron Warriors to seize key systems. Magnus proposed sending Thousand Sons captains to learn from other Legions, and the chapter ended with Hathor Maat assigned to Nimrod’s Legion and Phosis T'kar to Perturabo’s.

• Nimrod inferred that the Squats were guarding something vital, possibly a Votann, in their heavily defended system.
• Nimrod proposed using a Ramillies-class Star Fortress to draw Squat reinforcements while the Thousand Sons seized D-1519 and the Iron Warriors attacked D-1504.
• Nimrod, Magnus, and Perturabo spent a day refining the battle plan and coordinating its forces and logistics.
• Magnus proposed that Thousand Sons captain candidates learn another Legion’s methods of warfare before leading their cults.
• Nimrod welcomed Hathor Maat as the candidate assigned to his Legion, while Phosis T'kar was assigned to the Iron Warriors.

Nimrod sent Hathor to preserve the Thousand Sons’ knowledge while the Shadow of Order fought its way into the Squat System. After a year of war, Nimrod boarded the League of Votann flagship and encountered its Grimnyr Magos.

• Hathor reported that Magnus had cured the Thousand Sons’ flesh mutation and that he had become a Pavoni Temple Lecturer.
• Nimrod ordered Hathor to copy the Pavoni’s memories and preserve the Thousand Sons’ books and other knowledge.
• A Ramillies-class Star Fortress arrived in the Squat System and came under heavy attack from the Squats’ defenses.
• The Shadow of Order fleet emerged through the Carium Gate, fought the League of Votann for a year, and occupied five systems.
• Nimrod led a boarding assault on the League of Votann flagship and fought through five decks.
• Two thought-Servitors and a Grimnyr Magos confronted Nimrod’s squad.

Nimrod killed Grimnyr Magos and his Mind Servitors, then used Concept Substitution to open the Ancestor Shrine and access its interface. The images he saw suggested that an Ancestor Shrine could ascend into a Votann, possibly giving rise to a new league.

• Grimnyr Magos attacked Nimrod with amplified Warp lightning, but Nimrod used Concept Substitution to reverse the Warp circuits and disable his psychic power.
• Nimrod killed the two Mind Servitors and Grimnyr Magos while preserving their Warp-circuit system and Runes.
• The Honor Guard found the sealed Ancestor Shrine at the bottom of the flagship, and Nimrod opened its Leijin Alloy gate using Concept Substitution.
• Nimrod activated the shrine's interface, but his spirituality ran low before he could control or fully understand its images and text.
• The images showed Grimnyr Magi worshipping a statue that was transported to a planet and buried underground, leading Nimrod to suspect that the League of Votann had formed after an Ancestor Shrine ascended.

Nimrod learned about Squat technology and assigned Malena Scala to take over their genetic research, while Thomas received knowledge about their psychic runes. Thomas then led an assault on the D-1510 System’s Hearth-Fortress, where he encountered Squats using concealed Energy Cloaks and found their minds difficult to penetrate.

• Nimrod used the Ancestor Shrine to learn about the League of Votann and memorized the principles of Clone Tapestry Technology.
• Nimrod summoned Malena Scala, heard about her work on Aeldari Craftworld fragments and Catachan farmland, and ordered her to travel to the galactic center to oversee Squat genetic research.
• Thomas reported that the Jormungandr Star Monolith’s second stone chamber controlled an anti-psychic field, and Nimrod gave him a Data Crystal containing Squat psychic-rune knowledge to study.
• Thomas joined the Third Legion fleet bound for the D-1510 System, whose forces had been weakened as other Squat clans reinforced the Votann.
• After the Third Legion defeated the D-1510 fleet, Thomas led an assault into its Hearth-Fortress and discovered Squats approaching through underground tunnels under concealed Energy Cloaks.
• Thomas marked the approaching Squats for his team and tried to penetrate two of their minds, but their firm wills resisted his psychic attack.

Thomas used wizardry, potions, and weapons to fight the Hearthkyn alongside the Third Legion, then returned to the Squat System after the Legion gained the advantage in the D-1510 System. He left to report the outcome to the Primarch.

• Thomas used his Archaeotech Pistol and spiritual ammunition to disrupt the Hearthkyn’s shield-weaves as the Third Legion’s Fifth Company exchanged fire with them.
• Thomas turned invisible and attacked the Hearthkyn with fire, lightning, wind, and water potions, killing and incapacitating many while his supplies dwindled.
• After exhausting his prepared materials in the tenth solar month of 849, Thomas joined the battle with his Archaeotech Pistol and Power Sword.
• Thomas used Magnus’s third-layer Mindset to perceive an incoming hammer strike and killed the attacker with his Power Sword.
• The Third Legion gained the advantage in the D-1510 System, and Thomas returned to the Squat System to report to the Primarch.

Nimrod assessed the Legion’s losses in the war against the Squats and used divination to select Firestorm Star as a new industrial world for the Ninth Chapter. After John completed a vision, Nimrod learned that Carnivorous Sludge-men were attacking Firestorm Star.

• Thomas briefed Nimrod on the Squats’ weapons, defenses, and underground tunnel networks, while Arsena Dunn reported heavy Legion casualties.
• The Chief Librarian explained that the Legion had limited Cataphractii Terminator armor, and Nimrod considered how to increase the Legion’s industrial supplies.
• Nimrod used the Dice of Prophecy to select Firestorm Star for the Ninth Chapter, intending to connect his holdings at Incaladion and Attila.
• Santiago Bergkamp offered Nimrod a Silver-Gray Sharo Leaf, and Nimrod ordered him to collect more before preparing a Lucky One potion for John.
• John meditated on the information about Firestorm Star, and Nimrod saw a vision of Carnivorous Sludge-men attacking the planet from the Abyssal Reef Meteor.

Nimrod sent Szczesny and the Ninth Chapter to Firestorm Star to secure industrial supplies and begin producing Cataphractii Terminators. After the Chapter defeated the Carnivorous Sludge-men that emerged from meteor impacts, Firestorm Star accepted Szczesny’s rule and production began.

• Szczesny told Nimrod that the Shadow of Order had grown to 20,500 members but lacked enough equipment and production capacity.
• Nimrod ordered Szczesny to occupy Firestorm Star and use Malevolus’s data to establish Cataphractii Terminator production lines.
• Carnivorous Sludge-men emerged from meteors striking Firestorm Star and attacked its workers.
• Szczesny’s fleet arrived, and Nicholas and the Ninth Chapter fought the Sludge-men as they threatened the factories.
• Within a week, the Ninth Chapter drove the Sludge-men from Firestorm Star, and the Industrial Consortium accepted Szczesny’s rule.
• A Tech Sergeant began manufacturing Cataphractii Terminators using the Data Crystal.

Nimrod equipped his forces for the coming war against the Squats and gave Szczesny and Nicholas an adapted Aeldari Path to study. He then reviewed Malena Scala’s progress on Squat cloning technology before ordering her to continue researching psychic resistance.

• Szczesny presented Nimrod with fifty-two newly forged suits of Cataphractii Terminator Armour, and Nimrod said they would first go to Chapters fighting the League of Votann.
• Szczesny reported mastering his bestowed power while hunting the Sahar-Duin, and Nimrod gave him and Nicholas a Data Crystal containing the adapted Path of the Dire Avenger.
• Nimrod explained that the Path taught warriors to read the ebb and flow of battle, and Szczesny and Nicholas agreed to study it and teach it to their Chapter.
• Nimrod ordered the First Chapter to attack the Squats’ Hearth-Fortress in Cataphractii armour, with the attacking Chapters taking turns using the suits.
• Malena Scala demonstrated that her hybrid creatures could withstand physical extremes but died when struck by Psychic Lightning, and Nimrod ordered her to continue researching psychic resistance.

Rosicky Cech arrived in the Squat System with prototype Saturnine armor and received Nimrod’s orders to test it and develop new armor for the Legion. Nimrod gave him a massive Squat fortress ship, which Rosicky inspected and named the Forge-Ship.

• Rosicky Cech reported to Nimrod with ten prototype Saturnine Terminator suits and one Saturnine Dreadnought, and Nimrod assigned the First Chapter to test the armor against the Hearth-Fortress.
• Nimrod ordered Rosicky to study Hunt-Master Suit technology and develop varied armor for the Royal Court Friars using technologies from several species.
• Nimrod gave Rosicky the captured Squat fortress ship and instructed him to appraise its stored unknown items.
• Rosicky inspected the 25.41-kilometer ship and learned that its decks had been modified to support its workers and production lines.
• Rosicky reported to Nimrod that he would use the ship to develop and provide equipment for the Legion, then named it the Forge-Ship.

Rosicky Cech appraised several unknown objects aboard the Squat Forge-Ship and fully mastered the power of the Appraiser. After learning from Nimrod that Lady Hera was a formidable xenos species, he received a Space Particle Excavator Standard Template Construct to examine.

• Rosicky Cech deciphered a blue stone slab depicting a creature and recorded information about Lady Hera for the Librarium.
• Rosicky activated and deactivated an unknown xenos Power Lance, recorded its runes, and assigned it to the Armory.
• Rosicky appraised a white energy stone, mastered the power of the Appraiser, and assigned the stone to the Second Foundry Deck.
• Rosicky told Nimrod about the slab, and Nimrod explained Lady Hera's abilities, strength, and history as a threat to the Imperium.
• Nimrod confirmed Rosicky had mastered the Appraiser and gave him a Data Crystal containing the Space Particle Excavator Standard Template Construct to examine.

Nimrod gave Rosicky the Sequence 6 Mechanic Expert potion and used Concept Substitution to obtain Votann technology while urging the League of Votann to fight alongside the Shadow of Order. Meanwhile, Magnus led the Thousand Sons' assault on a Squat Hearth-Fortress in the D-1519 System, where their coordinated psychic arts inflicted heavy losses but could not prevent casualties.

• Nimrod gave Rosicky the Mechanic Expert potion and instructed him to deploy the Space Particle Excavator only in uninhabitable star systems.
• Nimrod used Concept Substitution as Grimnyr Magos to copy an Eta-Kharn Pattern Plasma Gun design and encourage the League of Votann to form Iron Oath bands.
• Magnus led five thousand Thousand Sons in an assault on a clan's Hearth-Fortress in the D-1519 System.
• Apophis, Ahriman, and the cults coordinated their psychic abilities to uncover Squat tactics, warn of attacks, shield their warriors, and strike back at Ironkin.
• The Squats held their lines under the Thousand Sons' assault, killing several Thousand Sons before Magnus unleashed psychic flames and tore through their forces.

Noni’s Iron Warriors fought the Squats through a Hearth-Fortress while Perturabo studied their Plasma Guns and worked on his own design. After the counterattack was crushed, Frick reported the First Company’s losses and narrowly met Perturabo’s time standard.

• Noni ordered Barnett’s squad to lead the assault, and the Iron Warriors seized a passage guarded by Squats and deployed a Scorpion Turret.
• An Iron Warrior plasma gunner fought through overheating risks while noting that the Squats’ Plasma Guns were more stable and safer.
• Perturabo’s coordinated guns shattered the Squats’ battle line, and his sons built fortifications around the captured position.
• Perturabo compared three captured Squat Plasma Guns with his own weapon, intending to make guns for Nimrod and Magnus.
• Frick reported that the Squat counterattack had been crushed and that the First Company had lost forty-nine men; Perturabo said Frick had just met his standard.